Lanphier's Yaakema Rose can score, rebound, defend

Thursday

Feb 25, 2016 at 7:19 PMFeb 25, 2016 at 10:17 PM

Ryan Mahan Staff Writer @ryanmahanSJR

What is Yaakema Rose? The Lanphier High School junior isn’t a true point guard, and he’s not a good enough shooter to be a shooting guard or a small forward. And at 5 feet 9 he’s not a typical power forward, let alone a center.

His coach, Blake Turner, doesn’t care what Rose isn’t. All he cares about is what he is.

“He’s relentless, tough, physical and gets in and rebounds the ball,” Turner said.

Rose’s teammates don’t seem to care either.

“Where do we start from?” sophomore Cardell McGee asked.

“From the backspin on the ball, stuff like that. The handles, he does crazy stuff in the games. His athleticism for him, being that big body size and very strong, and just aggressive — you don’t look at him as a basketball player but don’t underestimate him just by his body.”

Senior Xavier Bishop says he and Rose are as close to brothers as two people who don’t share blood can be.

And Bishop, too, knows Rose possesses some special attributes.

“Yaak does it all,” Bishop said. “Even at his size, he can do everything on the court from rebounding to defending the other team’s best player to also scoring. He’s just somebody you really want to have on your team that can do everything. He’s vital to our team.

“A lot of people might say he has flaws in his game, but he’s perfect for our team.”

Time to blossom

As a freshman, Rose came to a team that won its first 25 games and was ranked No. 1 in the Class 3A Associated Press poll. While he played in all 29 games for the Lions that season, he couldn’t crack the starting lineup with four seniors — including Xavier University sophomore Larry Austin Jr. — and then-sophomore Bishop.

Rose finished that season with 85 points, but no two were bigger than a putback of Austin’s airball at the buzzer to send Lanphier into overtime against No. 2-ranked Lincoln.

Lanphier pulled out a 55-52 win against the Railers to stay undefeated until a regular-season finale against Lincoln.

But that night, the heroics were Rose’s. And so was the spotlight.

“It gave me a lot of confidence, especially being that type of big No. 1 vs. No. 2 game gave me a lot of confidence that I was actually in crunch time of that game,” Rose said. “And making that shot and playing overtime gave me a whole bunch of confidence.

“That gave me a lot of motivation, made me feel more special. I felt more important to the team that I had a bigger role.”

Turner saw that moment as a turning point, too.

“I think that offensive rebound as a freshman in a big game, that kind of set the tone for who he is,” Turner said.

Glass magician

Rose is second to Bishop on the team in scoring at 14.0 points per game. A majority of his 336 points this season and a bulk of his 721 points in his three-year career have come in the paint, near the basket. An easy layup for Rose seems rare with his almost challenging-like desire to absorb contact and still get the ball to fall despite some incredibly difficult angles.

“He’s a crafty finisher,” Turner said with a smile. “No matter where he’s at, he jumps in the air, he finds a way to get the ball on the backboard and get it in the rim.

“The other day in practice, I tried to go up on the right side of the basket with my left hand, smack the backboard and lay it in. I couldn’t do it and three other guys tried to do it. He grabbed the ball, took one step jumped up and put some reverse spin on it and it just went right in.”

Rose said it’s just instinctual.

“I just react to the defense,” Rose said. “If I see a hand fly up, I’ll go under the defense. When I’m in the air, I just react.”

In college, Rose knows at 5-9 he will need to fit the mold of a more typical point guard. He’s drawn interest from a variety of schools, such as Drake, Cornell, Illinois State, Western Illinois, Air Force and Central Michigan.

On one of the first days Turner and Rose met, Turner tried to pigeonhole Rose based on his body type.

“He told me that he could play the one through the five (point guard to center) and I said, ‘You cannot play the one through the five,’” Turner said.

“He’s out there (in practice) with the second team and he’s guarding (2013 graduate and 6-7) Scottie (Wallace). It was like, ‘So, I guess he can play the one through the five.’”

But still, Turner still can’t always believe what he sees.

“He’s the No. 2 rebounder in the league standing at 5-9,” Turner said. “That’s just toughness and will. I think his strength for his size is not normal.”

Information

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
The State Journal-Register ~ Street address: One Copley Plaza (corner of Ninth Street and Capitol Avenue), Springfield, ILMailing address: The State Journal-Register, P.O. Box 219, Springfield, IL 62705-0219 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service